Verizon Chief Says AT&T’s Bid for T-Mobile ‘Had to Occur’
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) Chief
Executive Officer Lowell McAdam said ATT Inc. (T)’s proposed
acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc. “had to occur” as mobile-
phone carriers use more wireless spectrum.
“The ATT merger with T-Mobile is kind of like gravity, it
had to occur,” McAdam said at an event in New York today. If
the government wants to stop the takeover, it needs to have a
plan to distribute spectrum and ease the crunch some carriers
are facing, he said. “We’re going to watch that very closely.”
The U.S. Justice Department on Aug. 31 sued to block the
proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA, calling it a
threat to wireless competition. ATT has said it struck the deal
in part to gain the capacity it needs to ease network
congestion, and accelerate the rollout of faster, next-
generation network technology.
Carriers have called on the government to free more
airwaves as the use of smartphones increases. More Americans
will surf the Web from mobile phones and other wireless devices
than from desktop computers and other fixed-line devices by
2015, market researcher IDC said this month.
“If you look at the path that wireless is on, clearly we
need to have more spectrum in the marketplace,” McAdam said.
McAdam also said Verizon Wireless, the mobile-phone carrier
it co-owns with Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), will pay dividends if it
doesn’t need its cash for other purposes, such as spectrum
purchases.
“When it makes sense, we’ll have a dividend,” McAdam
said. “When there’s a better first use for those dollars, we’ll
do that. The key is, for us, that Verizon gets to make that
decision.”
Verizon fell 57 cents to $35.84 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. The shares are little changed this
year.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Sarah Frier in New York at
sfrier1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ville Heiskanen at
vheiskanen@bloomberg.net
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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-21/verizon-ceo-says-at-t-t-mobile-deal-had-to-occur-for-spectrum.html
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